1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a label producing apparatus that produces printed labels by printing desired print on a print-receiving tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various label producing apparatuses are known which produce printed labels by printing desired print on a print-receiving tape. Such a label producing apparatus houses a roll winding the print-receiving tape into a roll shape in a roll housing part, feeds out the print-receiving tape from the roll by a feeding device, and prints predetermined print on the print-receiving tape by a printing device. The print-receiving tape on which printing has thus been performed is then discharged outside the housing and, in such a state, the roll side is cut by a cutting device. Thus, printed labels are produced.
At times, a tape in which a label mount separated in advance to a predetermined size is disposed on a separation sheet is used as the above-described print-receiving tape. In such a case, predetermined print is printed on the label mount disposed on the separation sheet by the printing device while the print-receiving tape is fed out from the roll. Then, once the print-receiving tape is discharged, the label mount with print is separated from the separation sheet and used.
In a label producing apparatus such as described above, the print-receiving tape needs to be fed out in a predetermined direction from the roll. Here, prior art has proposed to provide on the roll side a guide member that guides the width direction of the print-receiving tape. The label producing apparatus of this prior art is designed so that a roll holder that rotatably holds a roll is mounted to the roll housing part, and the guide member is provided to the roll holder. Additionally, a plurality of groove parts are provided on the downstream side of the roll housing part in the tape feed-out direction, in accordance with the plurality of width dimensions of the roll. Then, when the roll holder is mounted, the front end of the guide member is inserted into the groove part of the above-described plurality of groove parts that corresponds to the width of the roll to be mounted. With this action, the roll holder is positioned. Additionally, in this label producing apparatus, the feeding path of the print-receiving tape starts at the feed-out position where the print-receiving tape is fed out from the roll, curves along a curve-shaped wall, passes through the printing position of the printing device, and arrives at the discharge position. The above-described guide member further comprises a feeding guide part that guides the width direction of the print-receiving tape along the feeding path after the print-receiving tape has been thus fed out. This feeding guide part extends so that it covers the area from the feed-out position of the above-described print-receiving tape to the position where the feeding path curves.
The front end of the guide member provided to the above-described prior art is inserted into the groove part of the plurality of groove parts provided to the roll housing part that corresponds to the width of the roll to be mounted, making it possible to produce printed labels using a plurality of rolls having different width dimensions. Nevertheless, with this configuration, only rolls of a few predetermined types of widths are supported while rolls of arbitrary widths are not.
In response to the above, a guide member that can advance and retreat may be provided to the roll housing part along the width direction of the roll to permit support of arbitrary widths. With this arrangement, the guide member is advanced and retreated to adjust its position in accordance with the width of the housed roll, making it possible to support a roll of an arbitrary width and guide the width direction of the print-receiving tape.
With such a configuration, the advance and retreat operation of the guide member may be performed by having the user pinch the guide member by catching and holding one finger between the guide member and roll and another finger on the side of the guide member that is opposite the roll. Nevertheless, in such a case, since the guide member guides the width direction of the print-receiving tape while in contact with the end face of the roll, the space in which the user is to catch and hold his or her finger between the guide member and roll is difficult to secure when the outer diameter of the roll is large, for example, bringing rise to problems such as a decrease in guide member operability.
On the other hand, in the label producing apparatus of the above-described prior art, the outer diameter of the roll housed in the roll housing part gradually decreases as the print-receiving tape is fed out. As a result, the feed-out position of the print-receiving tape gradually moves as the roll outer diameter decreases, causing the feeding path of the print-receiving tape immediately after roll feed-out to also change in accordance with the roll outer diameter.
Here, in the above-described prior art, the feeding guide part provided to the guide member is provided so that it covers the area from the feed-out position of the print-receiving tape to the position where the feeding path curves, as described above. Nevertheless, in the range from the feed-out position to the curvature position, the feeding path of the print-receiving tape changes according to the change in value of the roll outer diameter as described above, resulting in the possibility that the feeding guide part will not be able to stably guide the width direction of the print-receiving tape.